“Degrassi” Portrays Lesbian Relationship with Class

The Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation just finishedairing its sixth season in the United States last week on teen channelThe N, and fortunately for AfterEllen.com readers, the second half of the seasonwas all about “Palex,” the nickname for the pairing of Degrassi High’sformer bad girl Alex Nunez (Deanna Casaluce) and popular rich girl Paige Michalchuk(Lauren Collins).

Paige and Alex’s relationship, developed over three seasons, has become oneof the best portrayals of a lesbian teen relationship we’ve seen on Americantelevision.

Not that it has much competition — the only other series on Americantelevision to feature a recurring relationship between teen girls are Fox’sThe O.C. and The N’s Southof Nowhere,along with Buffythe Vampire Slayer (although it’s debatable whether Buffyeven fits into this category, because although Willow and Tara are technicallyteenagers when they fall in love, their relationship, which deals with mature story lines about good vs. evil and the end of the world rather than school dances and failing classes, seems more like an adultone).The CW’s One Tree Hill also featured a bisexual teenage girl in a regularrole in its second season, but she never has a relationship with another girl.

In this review, I grade Degrassi in six areas as they relate to Paigeand Alex’s story arc: class issues, character development, labels, dialogue,the relationship itself and physical affection.

But first, a quick plot summary for those who haven’t seen the show (avid Degrassifans should skip to the next page).

The Evolution of PalexFirst introduced in the third season, Alex gets off on the wrong foot with Paige in the fourth season when she runs against closeted gay classmate Marco (AdamoRuggiero) in a school election and threatens to use his homosexuality against him to win.

But the two girls form an unexpected friendship later in the season when theyare forced to work together at an after-school job, and in the fifth season,that friendship leads to something more when the two girls pretend to be romantically involved in order to get intoa VIP party, only to find that they actually do share more than platonic feelingsfor each other.

Paige immediately freaks out after their first kiss and avoids Alex fora while, denying she has any feelings for her. She eventually gets over it — aftersome advice from filmmaker Kevin Smith (in a guest-starring role as himself) — and Paige and Alex begin dating. Theybreak up toward the end of the season, however, over differences about their future plans. Both graduating seniors, Paige is headed to college at the prestigiousBanting University, while Alex doesn’t see college in the cards for her. Alex,struggling to get over Paige, comes out as a lesbian, and by the end of Season 5,Alex and Paige are friends again.

In the sixth season, Alex decides to go back to Degrassi High to earn collegecredit toward becoming a physiotherapist, and tries to reform her bad-girlimage along the way. The effort pays off — Alex finds a girlfriend (Carla,who only shows up in a few scenes), drops the attitude (mostly), and startsexcelling in school.

Things don’t go so well for Paige, who finds she can’t handle the workloador the pressure at Banting and drops out. She comes back home to Degrassiand unexpectedly finds herself growing close to Alex again, even as Alex startssetting her up with guys — just as Alex begins having serious problemsat home. Her mom has lost all their money to a deadbeat boyfriend, and motherand daughter are faced with eviction if they don’t come up with rent money.

Trying to save them from having to live in a women’s shelter, Alex takes a jobwaitressing at a local strip club, where she eventually becomes an exotic dancerbecause the money is just too good to resist. She loathes it — and herself — and desperately doesn’t want anyone to find out, especially Paige.

Things came to a head in last week’s season finale when Paige finally acceptsthat her feelings for Alex are more than platonic, then promptly dumps herwhen she finds out Alex started stripping after turning down Paige’s offer to help.

In the end, Alex realizes — motivated in part by her mother’s decisionto use Alex’s hard-earned money to bail the deadbeat boyfriend out of jail insteadof paying the rent — that she can’t keep on stripping. So she swallowsher pride, goes to the school dance to find Paige, and asks for help, saying,“I’ve screwed up a lot. But if I let you go, it’ll be the biggest screw-up ofmy life.” The season ends with the two dancing happily together among otherDegrassi couples.